Truck parking being addressed at state, regional and federal level
In June, the I-81 Corridor Coalition held a three-day roundtable discussion about the region’s truck parking crisis, and federal funding to fix that problem may be on the horizon.
I-81 Corridor Coalition truck parking summit
In late June, private- and public-sector stakeholders gathered together for a virtual summit to address truck parking along the I-81 corridor in Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
Although the first two days focused on identifying the problem and needs – i.e., stuff we already know – the private sector educated the public sector about the realities of the truck parking crisis. Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association Executive Vice President Lewie Pugh presented opening remarks during the second day of the summit.
Representing the private sector during opening remarks, Pugh highlighted the importance of truck parking for every state throughout the nation. To start, the parking crisis is nothing new, he said.
“Since before I started driving truck over-the-road in 1994, there have been parking issues,” Pugh said. “This problem has gotten worse year after year. Many factors have contributed to the shortage: more trucks on the road, less truck stops, rest areas being closed by states, lack of flexibility in hours of service. This isn’t a problem that happened overnight, so it won’t be fixed overnight, but fixing is what we need to start doing.”
The third day brought everyone together to seek solutions for the truck parking crisis along the I-81 corridor. Here are some actions participants found are best suited to address truck parking problems in their respective states:
- Continue to measure and monitor truck parking demand and define the problem. (New York, Virginia, West Virginia)
- Pursue opportunities to expand public and private truck parking spaces; people do not embrace truck parking facilities. (Maryland, New York)
- Partner with private sector (shippers/receivers) to explore opportunities for facilities to allow parking during early arrival and staging. (Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania)
- Incorporate truck parking into statewide planning activities. (Pennsylvania, West Virginia)
- Collaboration, promotion and education. (Pennsylvania)
- Outreach to land use decision makers. (Maryland)
- Apply resources to do what a state department of transportation can do: expand rest areas, make weigh stations available and expand parking at weigh stations. (Virginia)
- Establish a multidisciplinary task force to develop solutions for private-public opportunities. (Virginia)
- Direct funding for truck parking facilities. (Tennessee)
- Review rest areas to expand footprint and expand parking, including former weigh stations that are closed and redevelop for parking use. (Tennessee)
- Public-private partnership money availability; $411,000 per space. (Tennessee).
Those last three actions come from Tennessee stakeholders, and they hit the nail right on the head. In fact, one of those wishes may come true.
Congress nudges DOT to fund parking
Parking was specifically mentioned within the fiscal year 2023 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill report.
Truck parking – The committee understands that a growing challenge for commercial motor vehicle drivers across the country is the availability of truck parking, which poses serious highway safety risks for truck drivers and all road users. The committee notes that projects relating to truck parking are eligible activities in several FHWA formula programs, including the surface transportation block grant program, national highway freight program, highway safety improvement program, and national highway performance program, and discretionary grant programs, including INFRA and RAISE. In addition, section 21104 of the (infrastructure bill) requires states to conduct a commercial motor vehicle parking facilities assessment as part of the development or updating of a state freight plan. The committee directs FHWA to work with states to provide technical assistance on utilizing formula programs to support projects to expand truck parking capacity and on completing commercial motor vehicle parking facilities assessments, and to continue to explore opportunities to support activities that could improve the current availability of truck parking. Further, when evaluating applications for competitive grant programs, the committee urges DOT to consider prioritizing grants for projects that would expand truck parking capacity.
The bad news: This is not binding.
The good news: This is the closest to dedicated funding we have gotten so far, with the exception of Reps. Peter DeFazio and Mike Bost’s attempts when the House drafted its version of the infrastructure bill.
Congress is giving the U.S. Department of Transportation a nudge and a wink when it comes to doing something about parking funding. This has never been done before.
Remain cautiously optimistic, but optimistic nonetheless. LL